Traditional Excuse (Harpvor)
by LeopardHeart104
Summary: Request for @Elleamations on wattpad.


**Requested by Elleamations on Wattpad :)**

**Enjoy!**

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Ivor nervously fiddled with his hands in front of him as he sat at one of the few tables set around the indoor of his pad. Outside of his window, the moon had risen against the dark blue sky and was almost halfway to the top of the night sky, and a light snow had begun to fall over Beacontown. Every few moments he would glance out the window, not at all looking for someone who he knew would be here at any minute.

Would she come? Was she too busy? Ivor knew that almost everyone he knew (or more accurately observed since barely anyone, except for the new order, would be willing to even interact with Ivor in any way, for obvious reasons) would be busy with something or another for the holiday season, but with Crown Mesa's unnecessary shunning of her for the same reasons that Beacontown had for shunning himself, he didn't think that time would become something rare for her around this time.

Ivor took a deep breath and tried to calm his internal ramblings and worries. He reached inside of one of the pockets of his robe and carefully pulled out the beautiful rose, lightly stroking it's petals with the tips of his fingers. Whenever Ivor was missing the woman he was waiting for, he would take a moment to admire the rose, the flower being a reminder of her unique beauty and intelligence that Ivor had fallen- been _intrigued _by. Definitely not fallen in love with.

Earlier that week, Ivor had sent another one of his many letters to Harper, the two having made a habit of exchanging these letters with each other. He had invited her to visit on Christmas in the letter, and she had sent one back to warmly accept his offer, the small, flirty touch that she had added near the end caused Ivor to nearly swoon over the letter with a wide, goofy smile and red blush on his face for hours the day he received it.

Today was the day that he had asked for her to arrive. Harper had visited the New Order early that day, and Ivor had been there, and had been one of the first people to greet her. His heart had beaten against his chest so loudly as she had unexpectedly hugged him in greeting that he was afraid that others would have heard the thumping in his chest. Later during that particular reunion of sorts, he had privately asked Harper meet him at his "pad" later that evening, and she had told him that she would with only the slightest hint of curiosity to her tone and eyes.

Now, as Ivor sat at his table, waiting for the inventor, he was just as anxious for her arrival as he was when he had requested her to visit.

The reason that Ivor wanted to meet with her in a private area… He didn't think he would be able to admit it to himself, or any other person for that matter, that he had merely wanted to see Harper. To just be within her presence for just a few moments, maybe longer. To just let his eyes lay on her beautiful, brilliant face-

Ivor shook his head aggressively as the familiar thoughts came rushing in. _It is just an intrigue. Nothing more._

And there was also something else…

Ivor gave a muted sigh as he retrieved something else from his other pocket. Not the rose, but a small box wrapped with shiny green paper and scarlet ribbon. He gently fiddled with it in his hands. He had been too vulnerable to his nerves to give the present to Harper, so he had made the decision to give it to her here, where no other ridiculous teasing pests (also know as J_esse_) could see.

After that thought, Ivor perked up his head a bit as he heard a brief knock at the door. He quickly got up from his seat and rushed over to the entrance, opening the door to see Harper standing there, smiling up at him with a small dark red scarf curled snuggly around her neck. Her hood was off of her head and a few sprinkles of snow dusted her silvery-white hair. Ivor tried not to make the excited smile threatening to sneak onto his face too noticeable, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"O-Oh, Harper!" He failed to stop a slight stutter from entering his tone, "T-Thank you. F-For coming, I mean. I-I thought you might-"

"You're welcome, Ivor." Harper cut him off, continuing to lightly beam at him. Ivor abruptly stopped his rambling and beamed back at her, struggling to ignore the warm feeling in his heart.

He soon realized how long he'd been staring at Harper, and hastily let her inside. He heated up some hot tea for the two of them and he said pulled up a chair for Harper to sit with him at one of the tables. As Harper took the first sip of her tea, Ivor couldn't help but stare at the brilliant invented with a crooked smile on his face, along with a slight blush. Once Harper looked up from her drink again, she blinked as she found Ivor staring at her with the silly expression on his face. "Ivor?" She raises one hand and waved it in front of his face, "You still there?"

Ivor blinked a few times and shook his head a bit, clearing his cloudy vision. "O-Oh- Y-Yes, I'm here!"

Harper couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth twitch upward a small bit as she smirked to herself. "So, Ivor…" Her once friendly tone took a slightly softer, even flirtatious tone, "What did you want me to come here for?"

Ivor's eyes widened a bit for a moment as he remembered the purpose of calling Harper to his home. "Why I- O-Oh, yes! W-Well, I-I…" Ivor sputtered as he fiddled with his hands in his lap, fingers intwining between one another nervously.

Harper resisted the urge to giggle and she leaned a little closer to him from her seat, reaching forward and lightly wrapping her fingers around one of his wrists to stop his nervous habit, "Well, come on, then. Spit it out."

Ivor's eyes snapped down to his wrist for a moment as he felt Harper's fingers gently wrap around the bare skin of his wrist, her soft, chocolate skin against his. Ivor had to struggle to keep his breathing steady.

"I-I… I wanted to g-give you something…" Ivor stammered horribly as he took his free, shaking hand into his pocket, slowly pulling out the small, decorated box. Harper's eyes widened as they came into contact with the present, sparkling with delighted surprise.

"Ivor, you…"

Ivor glances away sheepishly as he turned over her hand lightly clutching his wrist and placed the present against her palm with his other hand. Harper slowly pulled her hand away (To Ivor's disappointment), and began to carefully untie the ribbon on the box, Ivor anxiously waiting in front of her.

Once the last ribbon had become undone, she lifted the lid of the box and peeked inside. She let out a soft gasp, and a small smile creeped onto her face as she let the sight of the small treasure sink in. She traced the edge of the small, golden chain necklace with her fingertips, resting them on the ruby charm framed with gold.

"Ivor… you didn't have to…"

"I-I hope you find it a-suitable," Ivor said nervously, staring down at the hands still in his lap shyly.

"It's… It's beautiful." Harper smiled as a sudden idea entered her mind. "Would you mind helping me put it on?" She asked as she rotated in her chair so that her back faced him, looking at him over her shoulder.

Ivor felt himself become frozen with surprise and shock. The fact that Harper wanted his help, Ivor having thought that she would be just fine with putting it on herself, and that he was being given the chance to come into the closest contact he'd ever been with her made Ivor dizzy. Ivor quickly snapped himself out of it and hastily nodded, taking the two chains that Harper held up for him. He scooted his chair a little closer to hers in order to properly fix the necklace without having to lean forward. Ivor's hands trembled as he tried to hook the two ends together, failing miserably due to his breath catching in his throat every time his fingers accidentally brushed against Harper's neck. Harper smirk grew wider as Ivor continued to struggle, and just to tease him even further, she slowly leaned back against him, her head lightly resting on his shoulder. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit as the bearded man suddenly stiffened. "Need some help there?" She offered softly into his ear, the warmth of her breath on his neck causing him to shiver.

Ivor tried to answer, but all words had escaped him as his heartbeat and breathing became faster at the touch of her back pressing against his chest. Ivor tried to say something, anything, but it only came out as a shaky exhale.

Harper giggled and decided that that was probably enough. Any more of her teasing, and Harper was sure that the pale skinned man would faint. "It's alright, don't worry about it." She reassured him as she lean back and rotated herself back around, taking the necklace back from the man as his hands continued to tremble. "Thanks anyways. And thank you for this. I should probably go now should go now, shouldn't I?" She guessed, rising up from her chair.

"Wait!" Harper almost flinched back in surprise as Ivor almost jumped up from his chair in front of Harper, reaching his hand forward to lightly grip her arm as he stared at her desperately. Harper blinked up at him.

"Yes, Ivor?"

Ivor's eyes suddenly snapped downwards towards his hand on her sleeve. He hastily pulled his hand away and rubbed his other arm nervously. "A-At least let me walk you to the door." He offered, taking an internal breath as he thought of the one thing that would either make this night perfect, or turn it into a complete disaster.

Harper was a little confused, but she didn't object, and followed Ivor to his doorway. Once they reached it, Ivor stood next to the door nervously, shuffling his feet as he waited for Harper to notice the particular incident above them. Harper put her hand on the doorknob, but paused as she noticed Ivor's still nervous state, not moving. Harper noticed that he kept glancing up nervously at something, and her eyes followed his gaze. Harper jaw fell open a bit as she saw what was above the two of them.

It was a small, branch of mistletoe attached to the top of the doorframe, red berries glistening and dark green leaves lightly swaying from the small draft. Harper continued to stare at the plant for a few moments, before letting her gaze slowly trail back down to Ivor's face, the pale skin on his face almost completely overtaken by blood turning his face dark pink.

Harper stared at Ivor with wide eyes, before her eyelids slowly lowered and another smirk found its way onto her face.

Looks like the present wasn't the only reason he wanted her here.

"Well," She giggles and took a step closer to him, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him, "Go ahead, then."

Ivor mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to hide his internal shock from her. Some of it caused by her insisting that he make the first move, and some of it caused by the fact that she was letting him kiss her at all. Shaking his head, Ivor slowly leaned his face towards hers and scrunched his eyes shut, waiting to feel Harper's soft lips against his own.

It turns out that he didn't have to wait long, yelping as Ivor felt Harper suddenly throwing her arms around his neck and locking her lips with his in a deep kiss.

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**Merry Christmas!**


End file.
